Chapter 14: The God-Level Appraisal Technique—The All-Seeing Eye!

The moment Lin Yi saw this skill, he immediately felt it was absolutely dazzling and cool—just like the countless swordsmen chasing ultimate speed he had seen in countless animations in his previous life. Drawing the sword and dashing forward, he would land a dozen slashes before the enemy even had time to react, then sheath the blade as his foes slowly collapsed behind him. Truly spectacular.

But why would such a skill appear in a mage’s skill set? As a mage, using this skill meant he had to wield a melee weapon. Although the staff could count as one, imagining wildly striking nearly a hundred times with a staff felt utterly discordant!

Walking along, Lin Yi examined his new skill as he arrived at the heart of Jiang City. Here stood the most important functional departments of the entire city. Among the grandest and busiest buildings was the Daxia Trading House, its name emblazoned in large characters.

Like the Daxia Bank, the Trading House was a state-owned institution backed by the Daxia government, its trade network spread throughout the nation. But Jiang City was only a fifth-tier base city; connections between such a small branch and headquarters were nearly non-existent. The flow of goods and prices were primarily regulated locally.

Passing through the bustling crowd inside the trading house, Lin Yi approached a self-service transaction window. Since the Cataclysm Era, the development of spirit crystal technology in the countries of Blue Star had become highly advanced. These self-service windows represented the pinnacle of that progress. Each one had no attendant, only a blue spirit crystal floating in midair, just like at the career transition ceremony Lin Yi had attended.

It was Lin Yi’s first time here. Watching how others operated, he quickly grasped the process. Just a touch to the crystal and a full-screen interface would appear, allowing for transactions. Whether buying or selling, the small teleportation array at the counter instantly delivered goods.

Lin Yi was amazed. Ordering online with lightning-fast delivery, goods arriving on the spot—indeed impressive!

He scanned all the scrap black iron equipment dropped by the howling Forest Tiger King and its cubs. The spirit crystal promptly appraised the items. Lin Yi’s previous estimate had been accurate: these pieces were worth only a small nationwide buyback price in the trading house, fetching little money. But after vanquishing a Flame Dragon, he still had a dozen or so pieces of equipment.

Selling this batch of black iron gear, Lin Yi’s card balance grew by over ten thousand Daxia coins. He then sold the materials dropped by monsters he’d fought earlier for leveling. The most valuable were a few special materials from the Tiger King, appraised at about two or three thousand coins; the rest were mere pennies.

Finally, with his backpack emptied, his card balance had risen from a few dozen to over twenty thousand. Not quite enough to buy another 24-hour passive skill point reward, Lin Yi decided to see if he could find anything good in the trading house.

He searched for mage skill books, but none appeared. After a moment’s thought, Lin Yi understood. First, skill books dropped at extremely low rates in low-level areas, and Jiang City was a remote, minor city with a limited supply of goods. This confirmed how incredibly lucky he had been to obtain a skill book from the Tiger King yesterday.

Secondly, even if such items appeared, many were reluctant to sell skill books through the trading house. Just like he had sold the Wind Spirit Rock Core to a specialized recycling and resale shop, others would likely do the same.

If one truly wanted professional skill books, the place to go was the specialty stores affiliated with the professional guilds.

No mage skill books here—what about universal skills? Lin Yi tapped the spirit crystal’s screen, enabling filter mode, deselecting the mage option, and searched again. Rows of skill books appeared.

"Beginner Identification Technique"

Price: 18,992 Daxia coins per copy.

Scrolling down, Lin Yi found that there was only this one universal skill book. Behind each book was the creator’s information, indicating these universal skills were not monster drops but crafted by other enchantment or scroll-crafting professions.

Yet even just the most basic beginner’s identification skill book cost nearly twenty thousand coins—a staggering price! How expensive would the mage skill books be?

Lin Yi winced, having felt rich after selling the Wind Spirit Rock Core.

But no matter how expensive, he had to buy it. Without it, he might have missed such treasures, since the rock core had emitted a faint green glow in the dark.

With the identification skill, at least he wouldn’t be unaware when encountering treasures. Especially a beginner’s identification skill, which in his hands would no longer remain basic. With hundreds of thousands of skill points ready to be invested, he could ensure it would skip any “childhood” phase and instantly advance to a higher level.

Gritting his teeth, Lin Yi purchased the identification skill book.

At that moment, his phone vibrated. Without looking, he knew it was a notification from Daxia Bank reminding him he was broke again.

Simultaneously, the teleportation array beneath the spirit crystal glowed. A few seconds later, a dull gray scroll appeared at the center of the array.

Lin Yi picked up the scroll and checked its attributes. It was indeed the identification skill book.

Without hesitation, he chose to learn it.

“Ding! Skill book: Beginner Identification Technique successfully used. You have acquired a new skill: Identification Technique (Beginner)!”

Next, Lin Yi wasted no time, pouring over a hundred thousand skill points into it.

After a series of dings, he received an unprecedented notification:

“Ding! You have consumed 120,000 skill points. Your Identification Technique (Master) has advanced. You have gained a new spell: Identification Technique (Peak Mastery)!”

“Ding! Congratulations! You are the first person on Blue Star to upgrade Identification Technique to Peak Mastery level. You have received a unique reward!”

“Your Identification Technique (Peak Mastery) has transformed into a new skill: The All-Seeing Eye!”

Lin Yi was stunned.

What? Such a thing exists?

He was actually the very first person on Blue Star to elevate Identification Technique to this level? In the thousand years since the Cataclysm Era, no one else had claimed this unique reward?

Lin Yi recalled learning about unique rewards in textbooks: akin to an achievement system in games. When someone accomplishes an unprecedented feat, the Heavenly Dao grants a singular reward!